Cargo ship Super Bayern (center), carrying Ukrainian grain, sails at the entrance of Bosphorus, in the Black Sea off the coast off Kumkoy, north of Istanbul, on November 2, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)

ISTANBUL - More than 32 million tonnes of grain have been transported to the world markets through the Black Sea grain corridor since August 2022, a Turkish government minister said Sunday.

Most of the grain was transported to China, Spain, Türkiye and Italy, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu was quoted by the Ihlas news agency as saying.

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The grain sent to African countries doubled in the past six months, accounting for 12 percent of the total amount, the minister noted, adding 290 out of 987 vessels loaded with grain were Turkish-flagged.

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Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in July 2022 brokered by Türkiye and the United Nations to resume grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, which came to a halt after a conflict broke out between the two countries in February that year.